Any injury with an accident upsets your life. Be it a car injury, fall and slip, or any other work injury, the effect is seen not only physically but also emotionally. At that time, when one’s injuries are the result of someone else’s actions, then one is entitled to compensation. It is here that the personal injury attorney comes into play. It is their role in the process to help one compile a solid case-a case that will maximize one’s chances of receiving worthy compensation for the situation. But how do attorneys involved in a personal injury case do this?
From evidence collection through negotiations with insurance companies, herein are some ways in which a personal injury lawyer can help put together a solid case. Knowing generally how it works is important, to better prepare you to make informed decisions about your case and may provide peace of mind during a difficult time.
1. Understanding Personal Injury Law
The law on personal injury is supposedly designed to apply in any case where a person suffers hurt either due to negligence or as an intended act of another person. These common examples include road traffic accidents, medical malpractice, and defective products. Generally, the big purpose of this area of law is to attach liability to the offender and, as a result, award damages to the sufferer.
The injury lawyer specializes in this area of the law only. They understand how courts work and amply address the occurrence according to their experience. They shall attend to the processing from filing of a claim to negotiation of settlement, hence you shall have time for recovery.
2. Initial Consultation and Evaluation of a Case
This initial consultation with a personal injury attorney gets the ball rolling as far as building a solid case. He will listen to the details of your accident, the assessment of your injuries and the strength of your case. They will get the opportunity to ask some of the key questions such as:
- How did this accident happen?
- Were there any witnesses?
- What treatments have you received?
- Have you talked to any insurance company?
These are questions that would give the attorney an idea about your condition and whether there’s ample evidence to bring forth a personal injury claim.
The Candid Case Evaluation
First most significant service that the personal injury lawyer provides, he gives an honest assessment about your case, tells you whether your case has merit and can likely win or not, discusses possible results. If the case is meritorious, then they detail the further steps of the legal process while if the case is otherwise, they advise other options.
3. Collection and Preservation of Evidence
Evidence is the basic block of any personal injury case. For a person to have a good case, he needs to be able to prove the fault of another party for his injuries. It therefore means going out into thorough investigation of the accident, gathering relevant documents, preserving important evidence.
Types of Evidence
A personal injury lawyer will have an inkling or more about the type of evidence that impresses the court. What this means is, he will get the following: Accident Reports: In the cases of car accidents, police reports are a given. Incident reports are required in cases of workplace injuries.
Medical Records: In medical treatment, it may refer to the medical records serving as proof that you do have an injury to which such treatment must be considered in your compensatory entitlements.
Witnesses’ Statements: The eyewitnesses can give some essential information regarding how the accident happened.
Photographic and Video Evidence: This is importantly needed to support your claim of scenes from the physical accident, personal injuries, and or property damage.
Also to be used by the attorneys in one’s favor is expert witnesses, be they medical doctors or accident reconstructionist, for the purpose of verifying one’s claim as well as explaining what these technical terms mean to a judge and/or jury so the whole extent of the injury one has endured is known and how and why the accident happened.
Preservation of Evidence
What is important is to secure evidence to the best of your ability and preserve it. Delays in securing evidence tend to minimize the strength of your case. A personal injury attorney acts with immediate intent to preserve evidence before it gets lost or destroyed. This could be a letter to businesses or government agencies to demand the need for documents or to preserve on videos recorded by surveillance, which tends to get deleted when too much time has passed.
4. Determining Liability and Proof of Negligence
What is most vital in any injury-based case is whose fault the accident was, and therein comes the principle of negligence. In most of the cases associated with personal injury, the plaintiff has to bear the burden of proving that a particular party was negligent or, in other words, failed to conduct herself in a reasonable manner and due to that she caused injury to the plaintiff.
Elements of Negligence
Personal injury lawyers depend on four elements when trying to prove negligence:
Duty: The defendant has a legal duty to act reasonably to prevent a harm to the plaintiff.
Breach of Duty: The defendant then breached his or her duty by acting negligently otherwise known as taking careless or reckless action.
Causation: The breach of duty directly caused your injury.
Damages: You suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm.
A personal injury attorney will take each of these elements and try to prove those with evidence they have collated. They also prepare for what defense the opposite party may avail themselves of and build their arguments against such defenses.
5. Determination of Damages and Compensation
In addition to medical bills, all of the following are covered in a personal injury claim. Your lawyers will be very specific as to all the damages you may be entitled to and what it entails. These may include:
Medical Expenses: Past, current, and future medical bills related to your injury
Lost Wages: Injury keeping you away from work will entitle you to compensation on lost income.
Pain and suffering: This ranges from pain and discomfort to how it has affected your general quality of life.
Property damage: In a case where any of your property was destroyed at the time the accident happened, one qualifies to file claims because of repair or replacement.
6. Insurance
Personal injury lawyers are the most professional negotiators. They know all the tricks that insurance companies can offer, and they can always counter their low-ball offers with sound and evidence-based arguments. Many try to maximize the settlement but without having to go to court. But be assured, if the insurance company will not offer a reasonable amount, be certain that your attorney is going to take this case up to court.
7. Filing of Lawsuit and Court Representation
Most of the personal injury cases are settled out of court. There are some, however which enter the courtroom. If those settlement discussions fail, your lawyer will be filing a lawsuit on your behalf. This is where his legal knowledge is incomparable.
Pre-Trial Preparation
There is also a time of discovery pre-trial where both parties are supposed to share evidence and information. That would mean much of this time will be spent in your attorney making a big case based on the following grounds:
- Seek additional evidence
- Taking testimony from available witnesses and experts
- Go through the strategy by the defense
Represent You in Court: Your case has gone into trial, and the attorney will represent you in court. He would present your case, calling up witnesses and debating on your behalf. His or her job would be to make the judge or jury understand that the defendant was responsible for your injuries, and you deserve compensation.
8. Maximization of Your Compensation
The farthest reach a personal injury attorney would go to is the maximization of compensation to an individual. This would be through proper investigation of the case at hand, with enough evidence gathered and presentation of compelling argument. They fight like hell-be it through settlement negotiations or trial verdicts-to make sure that you are fully damages entitled to you.
9. Supporting and Advising on Emotional Issues
This could be a situation that over-stresses someone emotionally, or it might be burdensome in the instance where personal injury is concerned. A great attorney then represents you in court and consults you through the period. They will keep updating you throughout their process and will answer all your questions. In this way, you can give your peace of mind to recovery.
Conclusion
Douglasville Personal Injury Attorneys can come up with quite an instrumental case for you against the incident. Indeed, they range from collecting pieces of evidence and liaising with insurance companies to the protection of your rights and entitled compensations on your behalf. You retain a good personal injury attorney, and more than likely, it settles in an advantageous settlement or at least a trial of your case. That could mean a lot in the process of recovery, both emotionally and financially.